


Phoenix

by monodramatic



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Minor Character Death, Trans Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 22:18:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monodramatic/pseuds/monodramatic
Summary: Freyja Agnes Fraldarius lived storybook life. But even in storybooks, things can’t stay perfect for long.





	Phoenix

**Author's Note:**

> basically i just wrote this bc im having feelings about stuff
> 
> no beta, as usual

Freyja Agnes Fraldarius lived storybook life. Beautiful lacy dresses, dark hair pulled into neat braids over her shoulders, taking tea on a picnic blanket with Ingrid while she watched the boys roughhouse in the grove. A kind brother to look up to, a father who loved her despite how busy he could be. Boring classes on etiquette, dancing (She was never very good, always stepping on her partner’s toes), always struggling to sit still for long enough to learn to be a good wife someday. 

Even in storybooks, things can’t stay perfect for long.

The dresses she worse slowly started to become foreign, her long braids weighing too heavy on her neck. She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to chase around Dimitri and Sylvain or sword fight with her brother. Why she had to spend so much time sitting and listening instead of getting her restless energy out. She assumes it’s so she doesn’t get hurt and cry; so she doesn’t ruin everyone’s fun.

Freyja is thirteen when she decides she doesn’t want this anymore. She wants to be like Glenn, like Sylvain and Dimitri, strong and brave and important. She thinks all these girl things are stupid. She doesn’t want to be a daughter or a wife or a mother.

She gathers her three friends and tells them this. Tells them to start calling her Felix from now on. She wants to tell Glenn too, but her father says he’s away on a mission, so she has to wait until he gets back. Her friends think it’s strange, but they aren’t upset and don’t question her. She’s happy they’re still her friends, and she’s anxious to tell her older brother when he returns.

\-----

But he doesn’t. A messenger comes back in his place, carrying a sword in his hands and news of Glenn’s death on his lips. Felix doesn’t cry when he hears the news. He can’t let himself be too emotional anymore. He keeps his feelings locked away, even when his father tells him his only son is gone. He doesn’t let anyone see how much it hurts.

Instead, he waits until the whole estate is asleep. He slips through the halls quietly so nobody will hear him. Years of dance had at least taught him to be light on his feet. His fast feet carry him to Glenn’s old room, while his mind tries to block out the thought that nobody will ever sleep there again. He finds one of Glenn’s hunting knives, sits on the floor with his back to the bed, and slices off as much of his hair as he can. The hair falls, but his tears don’t. He pulls the rest off his face and ties it behind his head, a crude approximation of how his late brother used to wear his.

His father is not happy when he finds him there the next morning. Says she has ruined her looks and made a mess of the bedroom. He can’t find it in himself to care. He does not apologize. He does not break.

It’s a few days before his father tells him that he’s going to be sent away with a small band of fighters. The Duke says he hopes this will teach him to stay in line. He’s sent away before he can even see Glenn’s sword be buried.

He spends years going on missions. He’s hardly ever home, and refuses to give his father the time of day even when he is. The Duke relies on the other soldiers who fight with Felix to hear anything about his “daughter”. They can’t tell him much, not when Felix stays on his own most of the time, but they can tell him what a strong swordswoman he has raised.

It’s four years after Glenn’s passing that Felix’s father sends him off a final time, to the Officer’s Academy at Garreg Mach. He says he had planned to send Glenn instead, but it would be a shame to waste such a promising talent. Felix first feels guilty, like he’d taken something away from his brother, but underneath the guilt he is thankful to have a reason to leave the estate for good.

\-----

Felix Hugo Fraldarius is seventeen years old when he begins his studies at the Officer’s Academy. He wears a men’s uniform and fights just as hard as any other man, if not harder.

His friends (If he could even call them that anymore) see him for the first time in four years and still don’t miss a beat. They see his strong jaw and lean muscle and call him Felix, as if that was the only name they had ever known. More importantly, they understand him. They know the man underneath the mask and stay by his side no matter how many times he lashes out. They will be patient, in the hopes that their Felix will come back to them.

Freyja is gone, and Felix has risen from her ashes, determined to be the strongest warrior Faerghus has ever seen.


End file.
